5/5/19

Hicks at the Hole! We even played up front!!! Classic, it felt so good. 

It was the Pocket Fishermen’s fish fry, we were on near the end and things started out early afternoon so I missed a ton of stuff... Apparently there was a kid dance party at some point(!!!). Most of the folks on the bill are old enough to have em, might as well give them a reason to come!!!

We were packed on that little stage. Six of us with no room to move.  Didn’t really matter. The crowed was stuffed in and right up by the stage.  Nothing but smiles for our little half hour set of rock. 

If you’ve played the Hole and you didn’t play up front, you didn’t play the Hole...  The stage in the back is fine. The front is THE Hole in the Wall. The back is just another place. 

3/22/18

Bigfoot was playing late at the Hole. The week after SXSW makes it hard for folks to come out. But everyone who makes it is a true music fan ready for a kick ass show. Or an employee of the club...

Rubilators were hittin it hard when I came in through the back door. (Avoiding the sharpie heart that everyone else had on the backs of their hands.) They were down a man but it didn't really make that much of a difference. I think everyone notched it up a little. Great set.

The Differentials were next. It was their night, they put the bill together and had a pretty incredible set. I hadn't seen them for a couple of years (I'm guessing here...) the "new" lineup really kills. Glad they put us on. They are having a record release at Antone's Sunday afternoon... Hmmmm...

We had a redemptive show. Considerably better than the last one. We even added a couple of new/old ones on the fly. 

Fun night.

9/3/17

Late...


It was Lawrence's tribute at the Hole and there were a ton of folks there to celebrate his life. It was the type of night you'd expect to bump in to him... yeah.


Originally I wasn't on the bill at all, I was just gonna go see the Fishermen but Bigfoot got added on at the last minute so I got to rock for the Lar Lar one last time.


We'd practiced the day before. We were joking around about how we had twenty minutes so we only needed to practice six or seven tunes to fill the space. Got seven down and went home. At the show we were told we had a thirty minute set... rock in the big city.


I stuck around for most of the lovefest. It was a good night, but someone was definitely missing.

RIP Lawrence Heads

We lost a good one the other day. Lawrence Heads died from some heart related complications after decades of being one of the biggest live music fans in Austin.

During the original run of the Hole in the Wall he would bounce between the Hole  and the Showdown (now the Local) drinking/music circuit and that's where I met him. It was after one of my early solo shows he walked up and started asking me about my act. Direct and serious questions that were incredibly well thought out, from a guy who was obviously soaring on a head full of something. We were pals almost immediately.

Over the next few years he'd seen me play several hundred times. No joke. If I was at the Hole doing anything, Lawrence was there. The man was gold.

The Hole closed then reopened a couple of years later, Lawrence was at my first show. I was thrilled he was out, even though I'd kinda expected it. After the set he came up to me and I jokingly said "Oh man, Good to see you, I didn't think you liked my shit anymore". He looked me dead in the eye and said "Fool, I love you."

I loved him too.

1/28/17

I got a voicemail from Mike Nicolai asking if I could play the 20th anniversary show for the Hole in the Wall's "Unplug This" cd. I almost shit myself when I realized I was on a 20 year old compilation. Then I started doing some math, then I was feeling grateful I wasn't already dead. Sometimes you got to face reality no matter how cold or hard it is.



It was a disc from the weekly songwriter show at the Hole in the Wall. Monday nights were songwriter nights and to me it had always been about trying new, partial or almost songs, seeing what worked and what didn't. You know, songwriter stuff.



I did Mondays a few hundred times during the "Unplug This" run and it felt good to be back on the front stage all alone, staring at friends while I shouted. A little surreal standing on the same spot and looking at older versions of the ones who were left. But I was glad they were still there.



There were a dozen folks on the bill and we all got fifteen minutes. I snuck five tunes in for my set. Three new ones, a "classic" and something from Henry James. I go old when I do a cover. I'm really glad I got the call, it was great seeing folks I see all the time and some I hadn't seen in forever.

And apparently I really miss playing solo!

10/7/16

Late late lame



ACL Week Two

Hickoids were on earlyish at the Hole. In fact we were so early I almost missed the set! I showed up, plugged in, got a drink and we were on. GO!! Our set was decent. The crowd was nowhere near what we'd had the weekend before, seems like the big festival crowd can' make it above MLK. Oh well... We rocked it.

It was the typical two stage setup, back and fourth, bam bam bam. Meet your death was after us up front. Cool set, but Walters amp popped so he didn't sound like his usual self.

Sailor Poon was next in the back. I could barely understand what was being sung, but that didn't matter. They were great! I really liked them. As a matter of fact they have a bass player and a drummer that work pretty well together. Hmm...

Beaumonts were last and upfront. Their penises looked HUGE up on that little stage. I took off around the half way point, they were killing it and there was no reason to believe that wouldn't continue.

And that was all the ACL for me. I wasn't on the bill the next night, I was gonna go but by 9PM I was still in my underwear and I'd poured myself a whiskey so...

And AND The fellas (with Odie as my sub) are curremtly on the east coast and about to head over to Europe (bastards, without ME!!!!) Go see them! And tell em you miss RICE!!

4/16/16

Basically it was a stripped down version of last weekend's show in Austin, with the Hickoids on last and at the Hole in the Wall. Big difference is I caught the majority of bands AND I didn't play like shit! Woo ME!

I did miss Jesus Christ Superfly, I hadn't seen those guys in a couple of years and i was looking forward to it, but didn't quite get out of the house in time. Lame. Me...

Beaumonts did the Beaumont thing. Funny how I don't even think about those dirty ass songs anymore. They are a part of my subconscious now, and apparently my subconscious is fine with songs about dog fucking. Everything is normal at the moment.

For a part of their set I was outside watching a dude do 7/8's of a card trick. It was one of those long drawn out story tricks (he did a decent job, but you could tell he didn't practice that often (I'm letting the magic geek slip out...) He got distracted near the end and it kinda fell apart. I'd never seen a card trick at the Hole before, wish it was a doozy...

PDB went next with the same shenanigans as last week, in a room a quarter of the size. It's actually more impressive in the back of the Hole. They are right on top of you, at Fitz it's more of a "show over there" Not at the Hole. Byron being right on top of you isn't necessarily the best thing, but it happens...

Our set was pretty great. We pulled out a bunch of tunes we rarely play and a couple we never play. Feels good when you can surprise yourself!  It had been at least a year since we even practiced "Gudbye To Jane", but we did it early in the set and we pulled it off Good work Hickoids! Now go practice for next week.

2/5/16

The Ladies had a show at the Hole a week ago. There were four bands on the bill and we had the early shift. The crowd was sparse at 9:30 when we went up but there was some improvement by the time we finished. It was a pretty good considering we had one practice so far this year and it was nearly two weeks before the show. Someday we'll be rehearsed... I swear it...

Eric Hisaw Band was next and they killed it. Eric really plays the shit out of that Tele and his tunes are really tight. The third (or fourth) tune in they nailed some Buddy Holly and that is always a good thing.

The third band was Garner Sloan I'm not sure if that's the name of the band or a person IN the band... didn't really get around to that. They had a nice, calm blues/old timey feel with an adorable girl playing fiddle for the leads. Good stuff.

Then the last band went up.... I'm not even gonna give their name, not because they were shitty. They actually played really well (even though it's music I don't like...) but the front man...What a dickbag... The "Sloan" folks hadn't even switched off their amps and that dude was onstage with a big particle board box. He didn't even look at the folks who had just finished playing, he just sat on the stage (with his box) and chatted up some people standing at the front. What an asshole!

So the box is his "stomping box" he sets the mic stand on it so when he stomps his foot it comes through the PA. Nice idea, but the sage at the Hole is a big box the transmits the sound of stomping through the mic without a giant second box that takes up space on the stage WHEN ANOTHER BAND IS ON!!!!!! Not to mention there were eight people in that band including, trumpet, accordion, fiddle, two guitars and on and on... there is no way in hell that "stomping" is coming through.

He also had the attitude that he had the most original music ever imagined... I'd heard that tired-assed, played out shit fifteen yeas ago IN THE SAME CLUB!!!!! Uhhh.... And to wrap it all up he was a dick to the soundman.

Anyway, it was a cool night up until the end, when the last hour felt like ten. The first three were pretty cool.

12/19/15

Last post of the year and I might as well keep with the theme of 2015, this one is late... Life has gotten in the way in more ways than one...

I was asked to re-join the Gay Sportscasters for a "super" version of the band for a party at the Hole in the Wall celebrating Debbie's birthday. Since she booked me (literally) hundreds of times when she worked there I was happy to rejoin the biggest, messiest band I've ever been a part of.

I played bass and there were drums, keys, four guitars, a singer, two dancers and no room on the stage. The stage was packed with gear and bodies. I barely made it up to a mic to help on some backing vocals. It was a hell of a lot of fun being in the middle of the maelstrom and getting to push it around with my bass.

The room was loaded with folks reeling from the orgy-like sensation of this lovefest. Both stages were going and there was basically a minute in between bands. Pocket Fishermen, Wannabees, Peenbeets, Superego and many (many) others were on the bill. All of them were big bands that people wanted to see. I showed up when the Wannabees were about halfway finished, fought my way through the crowd and stashed my gear. I thought I'd check out the rest of their set, but I never actually got to see ANY of the other bands while they were playing, it was way too crowed for the casual fan. I even had a little trouble getting to the stage when we were going on!

Let's do it again!

5/23/15

Plaidstock!

Wow. What a great night. The Hole in the Wall was packed the whole evening with with people hoping to see Davy Jones get up and rock the guitar. They weren't disappointed!

I played three times. The first was with an old college buddy of Davy's, Dan Hill. I met Dan about twenty minutes before we played. It was a total seat of the pants set, I even had him show me the progression of a tune on the stage right before we went on!

About a minute after that the room packed out and then Davy showed up, total rock star style! Dropped off at the front door with EVERYONE in the room cheering him on. Yeah! He got up with us and jammed on "One Meatball". I haven't played with Jones in over a year and the last show was this crap gig we did with that lawyer....

Anyway our little set was pretty good considering we'd met minutes before.

My second set was with Bigfoot Chester. And we whipped it good.

My third and final set of the night was with the Hickoids we also backed Frontier Dan from the Frontier Circus. One of Little Rock's finest. It was a beautiful mess of a set.

About ten minutes before we went on the city of Austin was hit by a tornado. No joke, a tornado. They had a silent auction on the porch and it got nailed. As in the tent it was under was picked up and slammed in to the ground. Everyone was soaked and the inside of the club was basically a swamp. Water was all over the floor.

Then we went on. Yeah!

Davy didn't get up with us, but he was there. Turns out I'm the only Hickoid who got to play with the man... Lucky me!

So that was just my little part of the fest. There were around twenty bands on the bill and a shit ton of people at the show. Over ten grand was raised for Davy. I was hoping for four. Glad my estimate was way off.

More tomorrow!

2/28/15

Once again it was the Hickoids last on a bill of three for a Saturday night at the Hole in the Wall. I got there late. It was cold and wet as hell and the crowd looked like it, it was dead as hell. 

I got lazy and only brought a bass head but it turns out the Hole's bass cab is a broken down piece of shit. When I turned up the low end or hit the string a little hard "flap, flap, flap" was the only sound the big bass driver made... It sounded ok if I was turned down low, but there was an incredible lacking of bottom end balls. I won't rely on the house rig in the future.

Our set was ok, by the time we went on the crowd had fattened up nicely and the were moving around a lot so maybe it just looked like more people were there (also barely anyone was outside smoking because of the shitty weather, another boost to the crowd).

We finished up a little early, got paid and loaded out in the cold cold rain. 

10/3/14

ACL Week 1 Day 1

Hole In The Wall

Hickoids were second to last on a bill loaded with ass-kickers. With Purple Stickpin, The Hares, Wreckless Eric and The Sons of Hercules it's pretty much a guarantee to be a near explosive night. Add the Hickoids and .... 

We started our set rockin with "Stop It" and we kept the pace up throughout the fortyish minutes we were on stage. No slow stuff, just a bunch of good and punchy rock and roll. We also played a world better than we did Wednesday night, most likely because we went on at midnight. A starting time way more appropriate for us. 

The crowd wasn't just along for the ride, they were pushing it! It wasn't the orgy of free love we've had during the ACL's of the past, it was more of a "I'll jump if you jump" vibe. Not an adversarial thing it was a friendly "do you dare?" We dared, they jumped and the beer went flying. It was a shit ton of fun.

The Sons played after and they brought their usual glory. It cracks me up every time I see Frank spit into his hand and fling it out at the crowd. So fucking funny. 

Day two is at the Lost Well tonight.

7/11/14

It was the Bigfoot Chester 20th anniversary show at the Hole in the Wall. Guests and Bigfoot alums made it up on the stage for three sets of musical goodness and to raise a little money for Davy who is still doing his best to whip cancer. The best part of the night was that a ton of people showed up! We are popular once every 20 years!!! It's not much but we'll take it.

Walter and Bill were the only ones who played the whole time. I think either Trey or Billy Steve (who isn't in Bigfoot, but played all of the last two sets) played a little less than them and I probably came in fifth on the who played the most list. I think I did about twenty five songs with Walter and Bill topping out around 35.

The first couple of Bigfoot lineups played as well as the Giblets (which is a Bigfoot hybrid with Billy Steve added and Cindy Toth (my old bass player) on bass.) The slow orgy that is the Austin music scene continues to roll on...

Special guests included Joe from Meat Purveyors (who was dressed as Davy which was kinda freaky, especially when I would just catch a glimpse of her from the stage) Joe from Churchwood, Ted Roddy and a couple of others I'm forgetting (it was a late night.) Texacala showed up too late for her songs, we played them without her. It's unfortunate, but there was a tight as hell schedule that we tried our damnedest to adhere too, she ended up the only "casualty" of the night. 

So that's pretty much it. We raised a decent chunk of change for Davy and took over the Hole for a Friday night and rocked a whole lot of people. More Bigfoot to come!???

One more thing, The beer they now give to bands at the Hole is atrocious. You use to get Lone Star and now it's something called Mexicali (I think that's the name, but every sip I took got me closer to permanent blindness so I'm not 100% on that.) It's the kind of beer that makes you wistful for Black Label, Schaefer or some other swill. 

Sad.

6/28/14

It was good to be back with the Hickoids. It felt like I was putting on an old boot that was lost under the bed for years. It felt familiar and a little odd. And I think a cat left something in there a few months back...

We went on after the freight train that is Mojo Nixon and the Toad Liquors. They tore it up on the front stage and played a bunch of the hits and Mojo said all the dirty things in the middle of the songs that you want and need to hear. It's always good seeing them, but it was hot as hell and I was literally dripping with sweat so I only made it through a few songs up by the stage. Stupid Hickoid costume.

We went on in the back. Obviously we played without Davy and we didn't get a practice in between them getting back from Europe and this show four days later, but we did just fine. There was a good crowd for the first part of our set, I think we went on a little long because there were only a handful left at the end. That's the what you get by going on after Mojo.

I'd never played with Cody before and we even did one of his songs (that I'd never heard) near the end of the set. He gave me the cords before we started and it turned out they were wrong... I came in hard on the wrong note, never a good thing.

At some point in the set I was sweating so bad (and I'd taken off my sport coat and tie many tunes earlier) I asked if it was the 40th anniversary of the Hole's air conditioner. Smitty set me straight by pointing out that anniversary passed five years ago.

Anyway we did our thing and it felt pretty good, it's good to be back to Hickoid normal. Or I should say Hickoid normal for now.

6/25/14

Bigfoot Chester was at the Hole last night. We played the back stage, third on a bill of four. I knew it was gonna be a weird evening when I showed up. I got there and the first band was getting close to finishing on the front stage. The place was jammed with people and it was hot and sweaty everywhere. It wasn't weekend, crazy, sardine packed in, but you had to rub up against everyone you passed when you went from room to room.

The Founding Fathers went on in the back. Those guys look really old with that white hair and the tricorn hats (and long woolen coats...) I don't think any of them invented electricity, but they still rocked them electric guitars pretty hard. Then Black Joe got up with them (Walter and I played with him years ago) and I should make a really inappropriate joke about Andrew Jackson here but (this time) I'll leave it alone...

Bigfoot went on a little late. We knew we would have a short set ahead of time, but we only got six songs in... And one of them we played at double time... it was rough. I had to change the bass pattern because my hand would have fallen off if I tried to do it the regular way. That was by far the lowest point of the set. We really whipped Whale and Harpoon Man so at least we ended things on a high note.

It was a little bit painful, but it was our first show as a four piece in ten years, we were gonna fall on our faces it was more of a matter of how hard. We got a little scraped up, but it wasn't so bad.

10/11/13

ACL Week Two Day One

Big night at the Hole in the Wall. I showed up right when Two Hoots and a Holler were going on (I missed the first band) and the place was already crowded. They have a fiddle! I'd never seen them with anything other than the classic two guitar, bass and drums (sometimes one guitar). Nice set, Ricky can still whip it.

Purple Stickpin were next. Dan is not playing guitar with them anymore, sad but they replaced him with TWO other guitars! (Jones is one of them) They were HUGE! Loads of sweet guitary goodness swirling around over Tex's growling.

At this point the Hole was one in, one out. They were at total capacity. The AC was doing nothing in the back and you could barely feel it up front. Too may bodies for a thirty year old AC to keep up with. Most everyone was there for the Old 97's. They were in Austin recording this week and jumped on the bill as the big act. The crowd was PACKED in the back room. It was actually a little on the spacious side up front while they were playing, but completely impossible to stand in the back. Unless you like sardine life or the Japanese subway.

They finish their big rock and roll set and the Hickoids were up. About a third of the crowd took off and the people who were left were primed and ready to party. Lots of drunk and happy all over the place. We punched through Hickoid hits old and new. As usual I took my jacket and tie off after the first song and before I even got a chance to get sweaty on my own someone threw a beer at me. I was soaked and by the end of the set I smelled like warm, flat beer and sweat. I couldn't keep the chicks off me...

In and Outlaws finished things off. What a great band. I'm liking them more and more every time we play with them. The upright and the accordion blend together in an amazing way. Some really interesting and cool sounds played by some serious bad asses. Yeah.

They finished up and it was 2 so the lights came on and we all headed home.

White Horse tomorrow.

8/30/13

Back at the Hole

Four bands on the bill, we all got 45 minutes or so.

Me and the Ladies kicked things off. It was our first time on the back stage and it felt a little strange. I've played there with a bunch of bands, but never with MY act, the whole time we were up there I was kinda thinking "Why aren't I playing bass?"

We did "Selfish". Davy finally go to hear "His" song. I think he liked it, even the breakdown when I started describing his masturbatory style in graphic detail. I don't really know how he does it and I was using a lot of conjecture, but I'm willing to bet I was fairly accurate.

El Pathos were next. They sat down and were quiet! It was pretty odd, but in a good way.

Hickoids were big and loud. I didn't hit Tom with anything during the entire set (don't worry, he's got it coming...)  We were four or five songs in and we got it worked up to a pretty good lather and this girl jumps up on stage and starts dancing. And then her dog jumps up to join in.

We finish the song and she's up there just looking around. I grab the mic and tell her to pick up Smitty's guitar and start playing, she is a Hickoid now. I also mentioned that her dog would make and excellent addition to the band and once it got wet, the smell of the freak van should improve greatly.

Everybody laughs, she (and the dog) jump off stage and we play a few more and finish the set. We are breaking down and Churchwood is setting up, I'm talking with Bill Anderson and she comes back up to the stage and throws a pitcher of beer at him! Was it aimed at me? Does she now hate us? How did she get so pissy so fast? Everything was a little fuzzy last night, I guess we'll find out what is up with her at practice next week...

Churchwood finished things off (with a half soaked Bill). They brought the horns, it was awesome.

2/16/13

Another Hickoids show at the Hole. We were the "headliners" (aka last) again for Churchwood's record release party. It got kinda swampy in the back of the Hole.

The place was loaded. It was nearly impossible to get a beer. Chablis started things off with a seemingly straight forward country act, until things started going. It went wrong in a very beautiful way. That ain't no "regular" country band!

Churchwood whipped it like a red-headed rented mule. I've been on so many bills with them at this point it's what I've come to expect. They Deliver. Joe had chicken bones around his neck and they had a horn section for the show. They ain't fuckin around.

We went on and if it wasn't for a couple of "My ladies" in attendance I wouldn't have had any beer for the set! That would have been troublesome. It's good to have friends/band mates to lean on.

Breakdown

They need more bartenders (or more bars?) at the Hole on nights like this...

1/25/13

Late again...

I did a thirty minute set to kick off the Pocket Fisherman's latest event at the Hole in the Wall. Cunto and a few others were also involved. They had both stages going, "acoustic" in the front and bands in the back. Of course I wasn't very acoustic playing my Jazz box through a vibroluxe, but it sounded great!

The night was a lot of fun until the break between the last act up front and the last act in the back (Fishermen). The band upfront, Boomswagglers, kept playing on and on and the Fishermen (the folks who put the show together) were waiting for them to finish. It started to get a little uncomfortable, but it seemed like they were about to finish their set... until they started another song.

So PF's said fuck it and kicked their set off. I'm not exactly sure what happened next but I see the big oaf singer from the Boomswagglers come running at Mike Nicolai with his fist in the air. He looked like a real idiot. He was literally running with his fist over his head, telegraphing his punches ahead of time like a two year old in a preschool fight. Pitiful.

I don't know what the results were, but Mike seemed fine after.

Breakdown

I got paid and a few free beers! I win!!

My new solo rig sounds amazing, I'm loving the hell out of it.

It was a great night other than the idiot from the Boomswagglers.

10/14/12

Day Four ACL

The last day of the fest at the Hole in the Wall and we are running on fumes. Hickoids went on at 4:30 and played for about an hour. 4:30 is way too early for a show, especially a Hickoids show.

There were around nine bands throughout the day and both stages were going front and back, one right after the other, until the back kick drum broke. The last few bands were all up front on the "classic" stage. It really only feels like the Hole up there. The back is cool, but the front is the HOLE!

Purple Stickpin, Billy Joe Winghead, Pocket Fishermen, De Los Muertos, and many others. After the Hickoids played I drove home and rode my bike back to enjoy the rest of the night. I had a hell of a time and I really enjoyed the new Pocket Fishermen song about Chips mutilating people. It's an instant classic.

Breakdown

The Hole was great all day. I had a bunch of Beers on the tab and even near the end of the night they were still buying them for me! Thanks

I need some rest...